Culinary campers

Kids explore the art of cooking at First Coast Technical College

Chef Sherry Gaynor, middle, listens to questions from Lily Sara, left, and Callie Hendricks, as the two boys in the group, Josh Dreamas, right, and Luke Sara, far right, cut and squeeze lemons for a shrimp boil during cooking camp at First Coast Technical College on Wednesday. Photos by DARON DEAN, daron.dean@staugustine.com

There is a bucket of water, a bowl of long slimy grey creatures surrounded by ice and a group of kids working together, giggling.

"Look at this one, it's long and gross!" said one camper out of the group as they all began to laugh and dangle the shrimp in front of each other.

This is the kids' cooking camp at the First Coast Technical College and is about the only place where a group of 10-year-olds can devein shrimp and have a great time doing it.

The college hosts a cooking camp for kids 8-to-12 years old and a separate teen camp for ages 13-to-17 years old.

One day last week they made lunch with an Asian theme of spring rolls, noodles and egg drop soup. For dessert they made palmiers, which are pastries made out of folded dough and sprinkled with sugar, although when there are two little girls in charge it's more like a mountain of sugar. The campers then split up into groups and took on their own items to make by simply reading the recipe and working together.

Chef Sherry Gaynor leads the group and is constantly helping and reassuring the campers that they are doing a great job.

"I like watching them be inspired; they are really into it," said Gaynor. "The way they work together is nice and watching them be excited and proud of what they made."

'This is fun!'

The two smallest girls out of the group, Lily Sara, 8, and Callie Hendricks, 9, made their way across the room, each holding the ends of a tray with a big and flat piece of dough on it. The two met this week at camp and immediately hit it off and worked together on all of the dishes. "We met here and started to be friends," said Lily. "I think this is fun!"

It is obvious that these kids are having a great time and know that they need to work together to get the recipes just right. Lily and Callie run off to help each other pour sugar on the dough, while others help each other take out the proper measurements for cornstarch.

Each camper is participating in the preparation of the meal in some way. A group of girls are working together and looking over the ingredients to make the egg drop soup. In the group are a pair of twin girls, Ashley and Megan Burke, each holding eggs and a wisk, said in perfect unison, "Chef Sherry, we need scallions!"

The girls crack the eggs and begin to beat them in with the chicken broth. As the girls were making the soup a small spill went onto the counter and Ashley calls out, "Hey Lily. will you please hand me a napkin?"

"Yes, how much cornstarch?" said Lily as she gave one of the twins a napkin.

Jazzman Lulkoski is a returning camper and seemed to get a lot more than a pleased appetite from the camp. "I like working together and making new things," said Jazzman. "That's what summer is all about ... it's discovering."

Jazzman loves the freedom that the camp gives her, "It's like my own kitchen so I can do new things." Her cooking partner, Summer Harvey, 8, agreed. " I think it's really fun and creative," said Summer.

Big shrimp, big smiles

In between demonstrations and helping the campers, Gaynor reminds the campers to keep their chef hats on, wash their hands and put on gloves before cooking. The campers listen diligently to Gaynor and are not afraid to say her name a few times.

"This is a very efficient group," said Gaynor. "I mean they are like clockwork!"

The two boys in the camp, Josh Dreamas, 10, and Luke Sara, 10, spent their time deveining shrimp and slicing up cucumber and carrots for the spring rolls. However, they seemed to be really enjoying their roles in the preparing of the meal.

"I like using sharp things!" said Josh. "I like cooking and eating."

His favorite meal that he helped prepare were smoothies, which seemed to be the consensus of the most popular item through out the group.

The goal at the end of the week is to prepare a meal for all the camper's parents at the end of the week. Gaynor chooses the menu items based on what is popular, involves team work, and is fun to make.

"I do enjoy inspiring the kids," said Gaynor. "Some of them already know they want to be chefs!"

The boys aren't sure what they want to be when they grow up. They are much more interested in the especially large shrimp they are holding out for the girls to see as they giggled.

"What if it exploded?" asked Luke. They all laugh and as they continue to devein the shrimp, having fun and smiling.

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"Mercury in shrimp new
By pitcher | 07/25/11 - 12:32 pm
The shrimp in the St Johns river have a high amount of mercury in them and should be be eaten. I got the test results on the shrimp I caught and the mercury in the shrimp is too high eat."